The sign with the hands

[Heather]

The car crash was the merely the catalist to get everything going.

Kind of a double-edged sword on this one really. I doubt Alessa would have allowed them to leave without helping her. If they do decide to help her, they're damned for all eternity.

[jsunderland67]

I could see that, because they helped "evil" in a way. That understandable.

[valtiel_unknown]

Dahlia did the gesture in a sarcastic way,because the hand gesture has something to do with their religion, I'm not sure exactly, but alessa spawned PH behind anna because she saw her mother was beig harmed by her.

Dahlia was surprised, but I'm thinking she was surprise because PH wasn't there to kill her.

And Only Alessa has powers over Silent Hill! How many people keep saying that dahlia should have powers because she didn't like the cult. No! There were how many peolpe not in the cult, Gucci isn't flying around on a carpet and blasting people away with a rocket launcher. O N L Y ALESSA HAS POWER OVER SILENT HILL. The dark one can't act, she can only ifluence alessa to do stuff!

sorry lol. I just had to clear that up.[/b]

[Mits_Giotix]

\m/

I think that dahlia uses the hand gesture in a defensive manner.
And ,since we're talking about it,the hand gesture was a ward against evil spirits/evil eye in some ancient civilitations,like some people previously posted (just my 2 cents )

\m/

[jsunderland67]

We didn't even see Dahlia's face after the Pyramid incident outside the church, so we don't know anything about her facial expression or what the hell she was thinking. The only thing we know she was surprised with wondering why the bed ridden alessa didn't take her.

[Storm]

i agree with the PH protects Dahlia theory. but i don't think she has control over him. im glad he killed Anna. she was such a loser. I luv Dahlia. hehe

[jsunderland67]

I don't agree or disagree with the whole Pyramid Head protects Dahlia thing. I'm still just wondering about it. There's just nothing in the movie making me think that's the case.

[Storm]

^well i guess the part outside the church is the only minor suggestion so we don't really know whether he is or not. and also PH was after Cybil & Rose in the school, so i reckon Alessa doesn't necessarily control them directly, cos why wud she kill the people she wanted there in the 1st place for her plan?

[Sylvine]

You forgot Poland... err, I mean, one important thing.

The church scene... is not the only time Pyramid Head appears.

..... ( a moment of silence as I let that sink in ).

There's also the scene at school. And that scene can be, as I see it, interpreted in two ways:

a) Prior to the world turning dark, Rose met Dahlia. There was a kind of...misunderstanding. ( Dahlia: Mine, mine mine! (meaning: Alessa ) - Rose pushes her to the ground, screaming "No, it's mine!" ( meaning: The locket ) ) Dhalia actually belives Rose is after her Daughter. As soon as the world changes, Pyramid Head goes after Rose. Then later, Pyramid head goes after Anna directly after Anna harms Dahlia ( I watched the DvD yesterday. Dahlia gets hit by the rock so hard she's bleeding. She then touches her blood and makes the evil eye gesture - with a grave, menacing face. With purpose, as I had the impression.

b) Directly prior to the meeting with PH, there is this strange scene with Rose and the One With Many Names. Just a short encounter - Rose sees her and falls instantly through a window or something. Then, Pyramid Head appears ---> Maybe not even really with the intention to chase Rose. After all, Rose just scrams, then gets "rescued" by Cybil, who then locks both of them inside the Fan Room. Pyramid Head makes an appearance again, trying to get into the room. Apparently, he tries to harm both of them, by swinging the blade back and forth, then trying to grab them ( looked kind of funny, I must admit ), finally - trying to open that door. One possible message would be: Get Your sorry asses out of that hole and go kick Christabella's ass.

Either way, it makes no sense that Pyramid Head was trying to hurt Rose and Cybil, if he was controlled by Alessa - the latter knew Rose was her only hope, and Cybil was helping her. Where's the point in trying to kill her? No point, really. That the other monsters try to harm her is a totally different story... actually, do they ever? The grey children don't really hurt her. They scare the shit out of her, but that's all. The lying figure attacks only cybil, as cybil handcuffs Rose and tries to hinder her from going on with her work. The janitor...well... never even gets near her, after all. The roaches do, but I'd guess they're just too mindless to be controlled - plus, they actually only attack the janitor and the miners, and when they get too close to Rose, the world shifts again. And the nurses - yeah, the nurses... the nurses were fucked up, and I don't know how they fit in. Obviously, they could have killed rose off easily, but they didn't - probably they were just being there for the hell of it.

ANYWAY. As I said, Alessa had no intention to hurt Rose. But Dahlia did, because of the scene at the abyss. And the mother is God in the eyes of a child, right? And a God is omnipotent.... and definately able to send a little pointy-headed angel of death. The way I see it, the darkness in the school actually was applied to save rose from the miners - otherwise, they'd get her, maybe think she's a witch and club her to death. Or drag her before Christabella before Rose could find out enough to be ready for the encounter in the church. But by summoning the dark, she opened the gate for PH, Dahlia's personal Nemesis ( and, yes, possibly a manifestation of Alessa's father, faceless as he is ), and that one went instantly after Rose. So, to save rose when PH almost got her, Alessa called the Darkness forth again - PH was forced to leave.

In the church scene, PH could have gotten Rose, too. But by then, Dahlia already knew there was a misunderstanding ( "I've seen Alessa, I've seen Your Daughter. She looks exactly like Sharon(...). Why? What does she want?" ), so PH lost his interest in Rose, instead went after Anna who would otherwise possibly shash Dahlia's brain in with that second Rock in her fist.

And after that, the world never actually shifts anymore. So PH cannot really appear.

As a supportive argument for my "Dahlia is as powerful as Alessa without knowing"-argument, there's also the scene with Rose, Sharon, and Dahlia in the church towards the end. "Why did she spare me? -Mother is god in the eyes of a child". And Dahlia gets that really cold, condescending look from Sharon, who by then somehow merged with the One With Many Names, as the last scenes imply ( Sharon looking the OWMN in the eye and fainting; Sharon leaving Rose on the cuch and going away, smirking in a kind of evil way ). Of course, it's a matter of interpretation, but it looks like OWMN would love to rip Dahlia apart as well - as OWMN was playing the dark side of Alessa, there was bound to be a bit of hatred towards her mother who let the fanatics get her - , but just couldn't...because Dahlia was God in the Eyes of Alessa, and thus she herself believed she could never harm her mother.

Sooo, that sums up my thoughts. Comment if You wish to.

~Sylv

[IsoscelesHead]

Could it have also meant that Dahlia was the mother of the Reaper? Rose was the mother of the good Sharon? And Alessa gave birth to herself in a way, and thus was her own kind of goddess?

SPOILER ALERT: In the first game, Alessa gave birth to God when the cultists burned her.(I think. Never played it.)

Thus, the Reaper/Dark Sharon/Alessa, controls and manipulates Rose, as Rose thinks that Sharon is her precious little girl.

[Storm]

Sylvine i really like ur theory and now i've watched the filma few more times and have read ur post i see exactly what u mean and i agree.
excellent analysis

[Sylvine]

Why, thank You very much. ^___^

~Sylv

[JuriDawn]

SPOILER ALERT: In the first game, Alessa gave birth to God when the cultists burned her.(I think. Never played it.)

A - Use the Spoiler button to hide your spoilers in the future
B - That is incorrect
C - The games are separate from the film
D - Go play Silent Hill. It's a great game.

[Neoholmesz]

This doesn't really answer why Dahlia is immune to the darkness, but remember when Anna said, "Not even the darkness wants her." to Dahlia? How does that fit in with her immunity? Anna must have known the maker of the darkness was Alessa, and that Alessa was Dahlia's daughter, why did she say that?

[Retro rush]

As far as I know the sign is used by hardrockers and people think they invented it and that it's a sign for hardrock but it's the sign of the devil (\n/ that is) and Christobella simply uses it to "mark" those who she sees as evil/witches; simple as that, just a little detail.

Correct me if I'm wrong though...

[shayne123]

Some one made a topic or post earlier about the fact that the devil horns type of hand gesture was used in the movie. I noticed this. Before Rose got pushed into the elevator by Cybil, christabella did that hand gesture to Rose cause " her daughters likeness of Alessa" and that like naturally commanded her right hand men to start trying to beat cybil down, now outside the church when the darkness is coming to, Dahlia does that gesture to Anna right before Pyramid Head materialised behind her, almost as if Dahlia knew Pyramid Head would show up at that spot in a few seconds and commanded him to do that to her. Both Dahlia and Anna were out there when the darkness was coming and Dahlia does that to Anna and Anna is the one that gets " the treatment " , lol. But then again I just thought of this. The darkness comes from Alessa's mind, and Dahlia is Alessa's mother. Maybe Dahlia knew the darkness came from her daughters mind, and maybe did command his to do that.

I mean from the first time Rose met Dahlia in the street until she was captured by Christabella and brought in the church she had no marks on her showing signs that anything bad happened to her and she didn't look distraght and/or tired like she's been running or trying to avoid the darkness like Rose did. All the cultists and Anna were minding their own lives until the sirens would go off then they'd be in the church to take cover so nothing bad happened to them, and Cybil was able to stay out of trouble like Rose did, and then when they met up again they tried to avoid these things together. I'm currently watching, and think I realised my own answer, before Rose walks out of the church with sharon, Dahlia asks why Alessa didn't take her with the other people she barbed wired up at the end, and Rose answers, " Mother is god in the eyes of a child ", so now it might be my beleif or thought thought because Dahlia was Alessa's mother and always tried to help her out as a kid especially with the cover up of who the father was, Dahlia was immune to the darkness, either that or Alessa didn't let the darkness hurt her mom.

Yeah,I noticed that too...maybe it's just their habit of doing that...or, Dahlia might've adapted that habit from Christabella...but when Dahlia did that hand-taunting(?) sign,it seems that Alessa was helping her...since she's her mother of course, and she loves her.. Well,that's just me...!

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm good questiion

[Gemzkai]

Either they died in the crash, Sharon merged with Dark Alessa, Rose became a monster by killing things and collaborating with Dark Alessa, or they needed a plot device for the intro to the sequel.

I've always been inclined to believe that Sharon merges with Dark Alessa after she faints. That's the way it looks to me, anyway.

I agree that Dahlia has some control over the darkness, with her being the mother of evil that was created by an act of evil (I think being burnt at the stake would be considered as a large atrocity). So I reguard it in the way she was given some control as protection.

Like someone has already mentioned, the line, "Mother is God in the eyes of a child," would be a crucial factor why she was spared at the end. She obviously felt a huge amount of remorse over her actions, so I think that would also factor in the reasoning.

That's the way I percieved it, anyway.

[Squarehead]

there is rumors now that pyramid head is representing alessa's father, the man dahlia has slept with.

Well at least then Pyramid Head would have SOME role, some purpose in this movie.

It looked to me like she just pointed and that she was clearly able to influence the materialization of Pyramid Head directly behind Anna. She didn't appear shocked to me at all, as we see her point at Anna, then it cuts to PH forming behind her and we see Dahlia no more in that scene.

Agreed, the last time i watched she seemed more delighted in an evil way than shocked.

There's also the scene at school. And that scene can be, as I see it, interpreted in two ways:

a) Prior to the world turning dark, Rose met Dahlia. There was a kind of...misunderstanding. ( Dahlia: Mine, mine mine! (meaning: Alessa ) - Rose pushes her to the ground, screaming "No, it's mine!" ( meaning: The locket ) ) Dhalia actually belives Rose is after her Daughter. As soon as the world changes, Pyramid Head goes after Rose. Then later, Pyramid head goes after Anna directly after Anna harms Dahlia ( I watched the DvD yesterday. Dahlia gets hit by the rock so hard she's bleeding. She then touches her blood and makes the evil eye gesture - with a grave, menacing face. With purpose, as I had the impression.

Definitely agreed. I think Dahlia may see Rose as a competitor and wants to get rid of her (or like you said, wants to get rid of her at first but realizes later she had mistaken).

And i think Dahlia really IS a witch. And i think she does summon PH to kill Anna when she does that hand sign, though that fits very poorly with Cristabella making the same sign (yes, it does look like a ward in that scene). Here's my theory on Dahlia and Alessa: Dahlia, a practicer of black magic, can conjure up a demon (THE devil?) that we shall call "Pyramid Head" for the lack of better name and... well, mate with it. As a result her daughter, Alessa, has strange powers. Alessa doesn't realize or doesn't accept that she isn't fully human until after having spent a long time in a hospital bed, burnt and bitter, when there's not much left of her humanity. That is when her demon side manifests: the Dark Alessa.

Seems that the human side and the demon side don't quite fit into the same body so the human side, that will later be named Sharon, is cast out (also, perhaps so that with some luck at least some part of Alessa could have a good childhood). Notice how Sharon doesn't have any special powers besides being adorable. That's becouse she's only a human, unlike Alessa. This would explain why the cultists would do something so crazy as to burn a child to death as a demonspawn in the middle of the 20th fucking century: becouse they were right. Becouse Alessa was still just a kid when they burned her, she didn't yet have any powers, so it would be "easy" to kill her then as she couldn't defend herself with remote controlled barbed wire tampons(tm).

So why didn't they ever attack Dahlia? Well, maybe Cristabella secretly feared her? Or loved her?

Sounds pretty wild but why not? It's no more far fetched than a kid who just happens to have weird psionic powers conjuring up a guy with a huge metal polygon for a head to kill people i think. This movie is so far out there that anything is possible.

[AuraTwilight]

And i think Dahlia really IS a witch. And i think she does summon PH to kill Anna when she does that hand sign, though that fits very poorly with Cristabella making the same sign (yes, it does look like a ward in that scene). Here's my theory on Dahlia and Alessa: Dahlia, a practicer of black magic, can conjure up a demon (THE devil?) that we shall call "Pyramid Head" for the lack of better name and... well, mate with it. As a result her daughter, Alessa, has strange powers. Alessa doesn't realize or doesn't accept that she isn't fully human until after having spent a long time in a hospital bed, burnt and bitter, when there's not much left of her humanity. That is when her demon side manifests: the Dark Alessa.

Doesn't that justify the horrible atrocity the cult commited, though? And why would Dahlia be a witch if she belonged to a witch-burning cult?

Seems that the human side and the demon side don't quite fit into the same body so the human side, that will later be named Sharon, is cast out (also, perhaps so that with some luck at least some part of Alessa could have a good childhood). Notice how Sharon doesn't have any special powers besides being adorable. That's becouse she's only a human, unlike Alessa. This would explain why the cultists would do something so crazy as to burn a child to death as a demonspawn in the middle of the 20th fucking century: becouse they were right. Becouse Alessa was still just a kid when they burned her, she didn't yet have any powers, so it would be "easy" to kill her then as she couldn't defend herself with remote controlled barbed wire tampons(tm).

Sharon doesn't have any powers because she doesn't hate. In the Silent Hill universe, strong emotions are all you need to possess powers, and as Dark Alessa stated, "Her hate began to change the world."

So why didn't they ever attack Dahlia? Well, maybe Cristabella secretly feared her? Or loved her?

She was protected by the Darkness. They're not screwing with her.

Sounds pretty wild but why not? It's no more far fetched than a kid who just happens to have weird psionic powers conjuring up a guy with a huge metal polygon for a head to kill people i think. This movie is so far out there that anything is possible.

It's a LOT more far fetched. Atleast a psychic but mortal girl is an already set precedent, and demonic heritage violates Occam's Razor.